Posts Categorized: From the President & CEO

The Capital Area Food Bank is excited to announce our Digital Food Drive crowdfunder, a new volunteer opportunity aimed at boosting our food supply just in time to provide meals to children and teenagers who will be out of school in a few short weeks.

Hunger knows no age, no race, no religion and increasingly, no zip code. The Capital Area Food Bank is committed to tackling this tough challenge, and to finding ways to reach children, seniors, and families with good food no matter where they live.

This time of year, our mailboxes are stuffed with solicitations – all for what seem to be good causes, and it can feel tough to be sure that your dollars are going to the best use. Here are some guiding principles on how to choose a 501(c)3 organizaiton.

A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that nutrition education actually reduces hunger over time. That’s right: The study found that the right kind of nutrition education actually reduced food insecurity by 25%.

When corporations are called upon to be a force to good in society, many may think about paying a living wage or providing good health coverage. And those things absolutely matter. But companies also have the power to bite off a particular problem and work to solve it.

While my garden thrives with tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, and more over the course of a gardening season, I am known as a killer of melons. I have never managed to bring one to fruit, though certainly not for lack of trying.

We applaud yesterday’s new nutrition labels released yesterday that highlight important changes related to calories, serving sizes and sugars.
It’s the first overhaul of labels in 20 years and, as WashPo says “highlights the many breakthroughs in nutrition science as well as upheavals in the nation’s disease burden during that period.”

After a day of listening to many of the country’s top influencers on topics ranging from protein in the diet to food waste to nutrition, a few of the dots began to connect: while some of our country’s food policies once served us quite well, they don’t anymore.